R&R: Maui Style

I got it into my head that we should go to Hawaii while we are here on the West Coast last winter. I mean, it's only a 5-hour flight instead of 8-10 from Detroit (depending on where your connection is). Which makes it much cheaper. So... I mean, it just makes sense to take advantage of our proximity, you know? It took a bit of work, but thanks to friends we met here who did just so, and our Hilton Diamond Member status, Steve was also convinced. (Insert happy dance here!)

And, we thought, why not make it an anniversary trip? So off we went, the week before our first anniversary. (First anniversary and second tropical vacation... yes, I know I am spoiled!)

Our Hilton points got us a cheap rental car and five days and four nights at the Grand Wailea Waldorf-Astoria resort. And then our diamond status got us upgraded to an ocean-view room. The resort was amazing and beautiful with exotic gardens, grand ocean views and access to a beautiful beach, and more pools than we could keep track of (seven, I think... it's hard to count that high when you're on vacation!), many connected with water slides. So needless to say, though there is much to do/see on the island, we spent almost half of our time just enjoying the resort and relaxing. So here's what our time at the Grand Wailea consisted of... (and I'll keep it fairly brief since a picture speaks a thousand words)

Wearing leis

Watching the fish and turtles in the koi pond below our lanai

Sitting by the beautiful pool

Reading and sunbathing (with sunblock, of course!) while drinking fruity drinks

Enjoying the sound of crashing waves on the beach

Laying by the pool

Drinking tea and reading on the lanai, enjoying the ocean view

Fine dining at the Humu restaurant at sunset

We were so grateful to be able to get away to such a beautiful place so affordably!  It was much-needed for Steve, who continues to work 12 hours/day (sometimes more), 7 days/week with only every other third weekend off. (Which is why we stayed and relaxed at the resort!) We had an amazing time! Thank you, God, for this blessing!

[PS - Yes, we did eventually leave the resort! (That will be the next post...)]

The Making of a Wedding Cake

You may remember that a few months ago, I took a cake decorating class with 6 others from church. We had a fun time baking, decorating, and sharing our treats with others from church (good way to get rid of all the cake and cupcakes we made!). But we never thought we'd be baking a wedding cake only 2 months later! (God knew, though!)

A couple from church was getting married and we undertook the cake as our project. How fun for us to be able to get together and use the skills we'd learned to bless this couple! (Even more fun that we kept the fact that it would be a real wedding cake a surprise!)

So how do you make a wedding cake, you may ask?

First, mix and bake a dozen cakes of different sizes.

 Step 2: Mix a LOT of frosting and some filling.

 Next, take a photo of the team with all of the baked cakes!

4: Assemble cakes with filling in between.

(4 1/2: Test by eating some cupcakes made with the extra batter, frosting, and filling! Repeat as necessary :) )

Fifth, glob lots of frosting on the whole thing and spread (this is the crumb coat). Freeze for 15-30 minutes.

After that, add another layer and smooth that out as best as you can, drill some holes for the dowels, and freeze again. Meanwhile, make 100+ icing roses.

Step 7-9: Come back the next day and add a fancy design (looks great and hides flaws!).

Finally, load the pieces in the car and drive to reception site. Assemble and add roses/fresh flowers (only the non-toxic ones). Step back and be amazed!

Any questions?...

Celebrating One Year

They say time flies when you're having fun!...Steve and I celebrated our first anniversary last month! One year already? It definitely flew by, but at the same time it feels like we've been married for longer than just one year. I feel very blessed to be Steve's wife :)

The transition to being a wife (and a stay-at-home wife on top of that) was a surprisingly easy one for me given all of the other transitions that went along with it. Steve and I work well together and he's very flexible and patient with me, so that helps. Not working actually probably helped a lot, too. (What a huge blessing in disguise!) A couple of pieces of pre-marital advice helped, too. Thought I'd share some of the wisdom given me...

1) Unexpressed expectations are a recipe for disappointment and conflict. If I don't tell Steve what I expect, how can I hold him to it? How can I reasonably be angry or disappointed if he doesn't deliver? Neither of us are mind readers, so good communication is a must! This goes for things even as small as "I need a hug right now." As for the reverse side, Steve apparently has very low expectations, so no problem there! ;)

2) My husband is not all-sufficient for me. He doesn't complete me (contrary to what Jerry Maguire would want us to believe is possible and ideal; he also didn't have me at hello, but that's another story!). When I don't expect him to do so, I can look to God for the things that only He can provide and not to Steve for those things.

3) Prefer one another. This just means serving one another and preferring that the other gets what they want instead of you getting what you want. When we disagree, it means wanting the other to have it their way. How unnatural! It works, but it has to go both ways for it to work. I think trying to do this lessens conflicts. (Except for the ones that go something like this: "We'll do what you want." "No, I'm trying to prefer what you want!" "Well, I'm trying to prefer what YOU want!") For the ladies, this principle also helps with the S word (submission). It's not hard to submit to someone or trust someone who you know prefers you.

[We're not perfect but striving to remember these things and more! We're both selfish sinners, so we need to constantly remind ourselves, especially about #3. (Well, I should speak for myself -- I need this reminder a lot!) It's not natural, but it is commanded that we love one another as we love ourselves (John 13:34-35, Matthew 22:39 -- after all, Steve is my closest neighbor! -- and more).]

We celebrated on our anniversary by spending a relaxing day together (Steve took the day off). We had sushi for lunch at our favorite local place, went to Target (a rare opportunity for Steve to do something besides work), and had a fancy dinner at Chez Panisse Cafe in Berkeley. (We got a gift certificate as a wedding gift! Thanks, T!)

As I said, I am very blessed and I thank God indeed! Looking forward to many, many more years!

Geek Week(end)

If you know Steve, you know that he, like many other guys can appreciate a good electronics store. He's into all kinds of video games (it took him days to catalog his collection), Blu-Rays (not DVDs, don't call them DVDs!), computers, and computer parts. In general, he's a geek! (I grew up in a family of geeks, so I love it!)

Here in California, there is a big electronic store chain called Fry's. Surprisingly, going there was one of the things people said was a must-do! They are bigger than Best Buy and carry all kinds of geeky goodies (more than Best Buy). And what's more fun is that each store has a unique and elaborate theme (although I didn't really get the theme of the one nearest us, which was apparently the 1893 Chicago World's Fair), some of which include Mayan Temples, Alice in Wonderland, and 1950's Sci-Fi.

Basically, I knew it would be a fun, stress-free, low-key (and with any luck, free) outing for an afternoon that Steve had off where we didn't want to really go anywhere, and a real treat for him. So I surprised him and took him there a few weekends ago. As you can imagine, he was like a kid in a candy shop!

Trying to contain his excitement!

Oh the nerdiness!

We spent several hours exploring every department. My second favorite was the "as seen on TV" section. I am so attracted to those goofy products! My first favorite would have to be this one:

Yes, they had a cafe! (These are some smart people... keep the wives happy with their frothy coffee drinks and let the husbands rack up the big bill!) I almost had to retreat there after following Steve around for a little longer than I could bear (with a short reprieve in their awesome theater demonstration room where they were showing Despicable Me in 3D with a projector on a big screen), but thankfully he took the two DVDs Blu-Rays he found (for a great deal, because he may be a nerd, but he's also cheap frugal) and hit the check-out line. (Somehow I knew this was not going to be a free outing!)

Look how happy! (That is Ip Man and Ip Man 2, for those wondering. Don't worry, if you've never heard of it, you're in good company.)

Aw. That's a smile that makes me happy, too :)

And the next day, we headed to Santa Cruz between church services and hit the board walk for some fried food, fresh air, and even more geekiness! We cruised the boardwalk a bit, and then hit the arcade (Steve says to note that it's one of the biggest in the country). Steve checked out the games they had (yep, he had a lot of them at home!) and got a bit nostalgic. And then somehow he got to play a game for free! (So at least the arcade didn't cost us a penny!)

Kicking virtual butt -- my hero!

We also indulged in some deep-fried Oreos (oh, yum)...

...and a romantic sky ride!

He may be a geek, but he's mine, all mine! :)

Monsters and Robots and Toys! Oh, my!

Pixar movies are some of my favorites... From Up to Monsters, Inc. to Wall-E, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo... they really tell great stories! And coincidentally (or not), they all made me cry. (Not that that's hard.) I even had a stuffed turtle from Finding Nemo and a stuffed Sully from Monsters, Inc. (Yes, if you did the calculation and found out that both of those films were released after I turned 20, you are right. And?)

Well, Pixar Studios is in Emeryville, CA, (about a half hour's drive from us) AND I have an awesome friend from college, Hasia, who works there! (Talk about a cool job!) So my friend Sarah and I (two Sarah's necessitates nicknames, so she's "T" and I'm "Koz," FYI) went to visit for lunch one afternoon, and a brief tour. My inner child was so excited!

It was so fun walking in past the iconic desk lamp (Luxo, Jr., from their logo) and ball, from their first animated short film. And then inside, to be greeted immediately by the some of my favorite characters, Sully and Mike Wazowski! 

T and I pushing the Pixar ball... and it's clearly no contest.

"Kitty!" (I really wanted to hug Sully but I restrained myself!)

 

Buzz Lightyear and Woody made of Legos! (Careful!)

In addition to good food, great company, and incomparable photo ops, it was so interesting to see a little bit of behind the scenes of how they make the awesome animated films! We got to see color boards, sketches, and models they used in the making of their newest feature, Brave. Hasia works in their PR department, so she was a great tour guide! It was a pretty brief tour, though, because much of the areas are closed off to the public and TOP SECRET! :) Overall, the facilities are amazing -- they have a beautiful swimming pool, a tennis court, and an amazing cafeteria on site.

It really does look like a fantastic place to work.... too bad they don't need a toxicologist!

Let Them Eat Cake!

During the month of August, I undertook a tasty adventure into cake decorating.

Yes, me, decorating cakes! Me, who hardly ever even baked a cake, much less decorated one. Some friends from church told me about the class, which was at Michael's and encouraged me to sign up with them. Oh, and it was 50% off, so of COURSE I was in!

And it was a blast -- I looked forward to Thursday every week in August. And at the end of the class, you had not only something beautiful, but something delicious to take home. Score! And I found out that it's actually much easier than it looks. If you can follow directions (not always my strength). And if you're patient. And steady-handed. And have the right tools. (There are so many tools and gadgets!)

Me with my first cake! Success!

Cupcakes are great fun to experiment with!

I graduated!

I think Steve liked enjoyed the results of the class, too!

Now I just need to stop dreaming about different flavor combinations (like the s'mores cupcakes below with marshmallow filling and graham cracker butter cream frosting below) because I'm always making myself hungry! (And there are way too many good ideas on the Pinterest website.)

Okay, so who needs a birthday cake? I need an excuse to bake! (Especially now since I have an apron and can stop wearing my stretchy long skirt like some kind of weird, strapless, makeshift fashion disaster! Thanks Mer, Jill, and Mindy!)

Steve in the Big City

After a fun week with friends exploring Northern California and including several days of fun in San Francisco, Steve had a long-awaited weekend off (he's still only getting every third weekend off). And after hearing about all of our SF adventures, he decided it was his turn!

So we headed out for the day and saw the sights. We had been a couple of times previously and saw Fisherman's Wharf and Golden Gate Bridge, but Steve had a few specific things he still wanted to see/do, including the Japanese Tea Garden, Chinatown, and a ride on the cable car! (What trip to SF is complete without a cable car ride, after all?)

So off we went! And I threw in the mix a visit to a fantastic gourmet ice cream shop that I had recently indulged in with friends on their visit. What a great time. This city has so much to offer!

Great gardens and Japanese architecture at the Tea Garden

And we enjoyed some green tea and cookies with a great view.

We waited in a lengthy line for the cable car...

And it was worth it! Ding ding!

Steve finally got to Lou's for lunch! A Tom Kozanecki favorite.

And I thoroughly enjoyed the ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery -- amazing!

Oh yeah, and we tracked down the house from Full House. The Tanners say hello! :)

Oh yes, we did!